Album Reviews: Metronomy – Pip Paine (Pay the £5000 You Owe)

Music that sounds like a computer going insane is a bit of a hard sell. When my computer goes potty and starts emitting unearthly forlorn bleeps it makes me want to kick the ridiculous contraption to pieces, whilst laughing maniacally.

Kudos to Metronomy then for managing to change a very similar sound from an object of annoyance into a very cool object, an object that could turn up uninvited to an exclusive party in a city penthouse and be mysterious and make girls swoon. This is in fact a re-release of the Devon duo’s first full length, this time including four bonus tracks lumped onto the end as an incentive for the dubious.

Each of Pip Paine’s eerie offerings of cascading electro has its own weird theme; ‘Danger Song’ sounds like an 80s computer game trying to hypnotise you. ‘Black Eye/Burnt Thumb’, meanwhile, sounds like a demented digital fairground ride, while ‘The 3rd’ is R2-D2 having a mental breakdown. Then again the funereal feel of final album track ‘New Toy’ betrays the fact that Metronomy isn’t just a weird object, but a sensitive one, making it naturally even more appealing to women.

Top prize goes to bonus song ‘Hear to Wear’ though, an anthem composed from what sounds like monophonic ringtones, and reminds me of some nightmarish, cheap advert on late night TV, but is in fact wonderful. It’s a right old fish full of kettles this one, but fascinating and strangely stirring. On second thoughts don’t take it to a party, just sit in your room, listen, and be seduced.